St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-03-12
The Monitor.

About midnight strange small craft came
and anchored beside the Minnesota The
Confederates who saw her next morning said
afterwards she looked like black plank with
O Yankee cheese box on top. The mysterious
small Hat object was John Ericsson's Monitor
aud this was her trial trip. She had come
into the roads that night just in time to hear
the last of the cannonading. Her commander
was Lieut. John l.. Worden, U. S. n.
The Yankee cheese box that the Confed-
crates saw was revolving tower or turret,
twenty feet in diameter and ten feet high,
bomb proof Inside were two 1l-inch Dahl
gren cannon, which could be turned and
aimed in any direction through the portfolios
of the tower The guns were revolved with
power from the double cylinder engine that
propelled the boat The deck of the vessel
was nearly level with the water, and down
under this all the crew stayed except the
two who worked the guns within the turret.
The boat was sharpened at both ends, 124 feet
long, "a feet wide, and had a doubls hull.
The upper hull projected all over the lower
one, and protected anchor, rudder and screw
p1
heavy iron. The top of the turret was of rail
road bar iron armored over with iron plate,
holes being left for ventilation. To get at the
Monitors machinery, and damage her, shot
would have to pass through twenty feet of
water and then strike slanting heavy iron
plate Thus there was nothing shot could
touch except the fiat deck or the turret or
the low fat pilot house, which latter was as
heavily built as the turret. The smoke stack,
also protected with heavy iron boxing, was
built telescope fashion with slides that could
be drawn within one another when the vessel
was in action.
There was no way to get into her except
down ladder through the turret, one man
at time Such was the invincibIe little
demon of war that came down to meet the
Merrimac She was built in 100 days out
and out.
The Merrimac and Monitor fight was no
exception to the rule that the great battles
Of our war occurred on Sunday. So did the
battle of Waterloo. and many other great
fights the world over.
Sunday. March 9, about o clock i'll the
morning, the sloping roof of the tremendous
ram loorned up through the haze, and bore
down upon the Minnesota. With her were
her attendants of the day before, the Con-
federate gunboats Patrick Henry, James
town, Raleigh, Beaufort and Teaser. To-
gether they carried eleven guns. In the
battle of the day before Commodore bu-
chanan had been severely wounded by
a shot from the Congress- and III the ac-
ton of March o, the command devoived
upon his first officer, Lieut.. Catesby Jones.
The powder division on board the Congress was
in charge of Paymaster Mexican Buchanan,
brother of the commander of the Merrlmac.
Only one thing had prevented the destruc-
ton of the Minnesota in the action OF Satur-
day, and that was the fact that she was
grounded in water too shoal for the Mer-
rimac to come near her. Her misfortune had
proved her salvation.
At the approach of the Merrimac and her
tenders ON Sunday morning the drums OF
the Minnesota beat to quarters. Away down
under water the crew of the little Monitor
got ready for fight.
A strange scene in naval warfare then took
place The gray bearded captain at Old
Point Comfort tells it as though il happened
yesterday. The Monitor was only one-ffth